Thierry Descouedres
Thierry Descouedres '''(born '''Theorn), is the second made vampire in history, created by Maya Dragonslayer, the first vampire. He is also the soulmate of Hannah Snow, a human and Old Soul, a Night World Elder and a co-founder of the revived Circle Daybreak. History Early life Thierry was born Theorn during prehistoric times, and was a contemporary of Maya and Hellewise, being a member of their tribe (though it is unclear if Theorn himself was a witch). He was fond of both girls, as he liked their respective good-looks . He even cried alongside Hellewise when he learned that Maya had killed four infants to initiate the spell that transformed her into the first vampire . Thierry again encounters Maya on the night of the spring equinox, while guarding the tribe's cave; Maya is now "stunningly, dazzlingly beautiful" and determined to make Theorn a vampire as well, since she was jealous that he was equally attracted to herself and Hellewise. He attempts to pray to Hecate while listening to Maya describe her new condition, but the former witch is irritated by it and stops him. In spite of his fear of her, Theorn was too fixated on her unearthly allure to scream for help, and by hesitating allowed Maya the time to grab him and drag him into the bushes. Maya then reveals her plans to convert more people into vampires, as well as her intention to have a vampire child (though not with Theorn, as she doubts he will be able to give her children after being changed), and will have Theorn as her consort. However, Theorn has faith that either himself or Hellewise will stop her, but Maya dismisses his protests . Maya then bite him him on the neck and drinking his blood , the pain of which he likens to having his throat ripped out. Maya used a stick to puncture her own throat and forced Theorn to drink her vampire blood . Maya then leaves him there and the tribe finds him and assuming him dead, bury him at the back of the cave. However, Theorn awakens as a made vampire; blinded by bloodlust he attacks the first person available: his brother Conlan. It is not known if he drinks from Conlan, but Theorn is abruptly stopped at the sight of Hellewise, crying and upset. Haunted by her expression, Theorn flees; Hellewise vows to stop Maya to avenge him. Theorn keeps enough presence of mind to realize he is a danger to others, and runs to get as far from civilization as possible. He attempts to quench his thirst at a nearby stream, but Maya finds him and mentions that water will not satisfy him anymore. Theorn turns on her with rage, but Maya merely laughs at him and his hate-filled idea of drinking her blood. He then stumbles away from her, although Maya promises that he will be hers alone. He continues on, catching animals to feed on, but he will not do it often, as it reminds him of what he has become. Hana of the Three Rivers Theorn eventually comes upon a neighboring tribe; he has, by this time, come to be "wild" looking and covered with mud, wearing nothing but a leather loincloth. However, his thirst for blood has not been slaked, and as such he attacks and drinks from the first person he sees by the river; he later admits that he does not remember much of the event. Unfortunately, it is a little girl of the tribe, Ryl; he drinks from her but she is not killed, and when her mother discovers her, she begins screaming for help. Theorn himself is found by the river just prior to the discovery of Ryl; the curious and frightened tribesmen (who are unnerved by Theorn's reflective eyes and long fangs) threaten him with spears. He initially fights back, but upon seeing Ryl, and then her cousin, Hana, who reminds him of Hellewise, he gives himself up and allows himself to be led to the caves and placed in a cage, while the tribe argues over what to do with him. Just before dawn, Hana arrives at Theorn's enclosure and releases him, but he refuses to accompany her to freedom, due to his guilt over hurting Ryl. Annoyed, Hana uses his fear of hurting people against him and physically herds him out of the cave. She then presents him with provisions and, using gestures, tells him to eat and then leave. However, Theorn throws the supplies down, making Hana realize that blood is the only thing that can sustain him. Bravely, she offers her throat to Theorn, which causes him emotional agony, but he resists and kisses Hana's hand in respect for her kindness. He then attempts to leave, but the hunters find him and begin trying to kill him with their spears. However, the spears only serve to torture Theorn beyond sanity; being tipped with stone, the spears don't kill him. When a torch is brought to burn him, Theorn's mind snaps and he begins grabbing and killing the tribe, one member after another. It is only when he is finishing the blood from one of the last members that Theorn regains his sanity. To his horror, he then realizes the person he was drinking from was Hana. Seeing the evil he'd done, Theorn began to feel he himself was now as "damned" as Maya. Nearly embracing this aspect of himself, Hana interrupted his thoughts and it was revealed that they are soulmates; the two of them witness a vision of themselves traveling together through multiple lifetimes. Hana ultimately forgives him and makes him promise never to kill again, before succumbing to her injuries. Mourning her, Theorn brushed hair from her face, but accidentally left a trail of blood across her left cheekbone; this would later become the birthmark or 'psychic brand' that appears on Hana's face each time she is reborn. Giving her body over to a survivor of the tribe, Theorn then left for home. Maya catches up to him; revealing she had witnessed his massacre of the tribe, she tells him to "forget that washed out blond and start enjoying life" with her. However, Theorn, unable to kill Maya as he wants, walks away from her, infuriating the elder vampire. Maya vows that he will eventually be hers. Theorn returns to Hellewise and requests a spell which will make him sleep until Hana's soul is reborn. Despite the dangers (he might die during the process, and it might be thousands of years before her rebirth), Hellewise is sympathetic and gives him the spell; Theorn hides himself in a grave after the spell is cast to prevent Maya's interference. He ultimately reawakens when Hana is reborn in Egypt as the priestess Ha-nahkt, due to the soulmate principle connecting them. He approaches her and the pair rekindle their bond, although Theorn resists beginning a relationship with her due to her duties as a priestess of Isis. However, he promises to find her again in her next life and she allows him to drink her blood. Unfortunately, Maya also tracks down Ha-nahkt and murders her, taking on Theorn's appearance as she does to trick Ha-nahkt into believing Theorn had killed her. Maya continues to do so in each of Hana's lives, before her seventeenth birthday, despite Theorn's efforts to find his soulmate first and protect her, which causes him a great deal of grief and guilt over the centuries. Present Day In the present day, Theorn goes by the name of Thierry Descouedres, and has become a powerful Lord of the Night World, stationed in Las Vegas, Nevada. Every time Hana is reborn, he searches the world to find her, employing other Night People to keep an eye out for the girl. He mentions that the last time he found Hana, she had been reborn as a girl named Annette, living in Quebec, Canada, but unfortunately Maya had gotten there first and murdered her. Secret Vampire Thierry actually makes his debut appearance in the series in Secret Vampire, hosting a summer solstice party in Las Vegas. The made vampire Poppy North notices him, describing him as "beautiful...tall and blond and pensive. Almost sad-looking." Ash Redfern had apparently been intending to hand Poppy over to Thierry as an illegally made vampire (as they do not yet realise that Poppy, as a lost witch, is already technically a Night Person), but Poppy is able to fight Ash off until her twin brother Phillip and her soulmate James Rasmussen arrive. It is unknown if Thierry would really have executed Poppy, given his compassionate nature and his promise to Hana not to kill ever again; considering his great age and wisdom, Thierry may also have been able to detect that Poppy was not originally human, thus meaning no law had been broken. Soulmate Reunion Thierry is introduced returning to Las Vegas from Hawaii, having failed to find his soulmate again. Luckily, he receives a call from his operative, the werewolf Lupe Acevedo, who informs him that she has found Hana (now Hannah Snow), but that Maya's own spy, a second werewolf, also knows where she is. Thierry presently arrives in Montana, hiding below the window of a psychiatry office where Hannah has gone for help after finding sinister notes written in her own hand. He insists that Lupe leave after thanking her for her help, then peers through the window to look at Hannah as she undergoes a past life regression. Despite his desire to enter and take her away with him, he has done this in the past with disastrous consequences, which curbs the urge. However, as Hannah delves more into her first life and remembers first meeting Thierry, he uses mental suggestion to wake her up from the trance, as he doesn't want her to relive the pain of such times. He comes to Hannah's home that night, again using telepathy to prompt her to come outside. The realization that her memories had been real overwhelms Hannah; Thierry attempts to comfort her, which triggers the soulmate connection once they touch. Hannah is at first angry with him for not being there as her soulmate, but this is overridden by their joy at rediscovering one another. However, upon allowing Thierry to drink her blood, Hannah sees a vision of him looking "savage", and remembered him draining her blood, in addition to seeing a woman with dark hair warning her about Thierry. Hannah, feeling furious and betrayed, orders Thierry to leave; he leaves her an enchanted black rose ring before departing however. He additionally sets up a magical ward over her home to prevent Maya from coming after her. Departure from Hannah Awaiting a witch named Circe in a hotel lobby, Thierry recalls his life as a mortal and the first time he met Hannah. To his shock, he is found by Maya, whom he had not seen in nearly a century. He tells her that he intends to break the constant cycle of Hannah's death, and informs Maya that he will no longer go after Hannah, and therefore Maya should stop attacking her as well. Maya is surprised at Theirry's admission, then comments about how "sweet" Hannah's blood is. Immediately, Thierry pins Maya to a wall in a rage, demanding to know what happened. Maya explains that she had attempted to kill Hannah again, having gained permission to enter the girl's house and cross the ward. Disguising herself as Thierry, Maya bit Hannah and tried to exchange blood, but Hannah wisely stabbed the vampire matriarch in the hand with a pencil, causing Maya to flee before she could do more damage. Enraged, Thierry threatens to kill Maya if she hurts Hannah again, but Maya laughs off his threats, reminding him of his promise to Hana. He quickly goes looking for Hannah to make sure she is all right, but Hannah, completely distrustful of him now despite her notable blood loss, holds onto a wooden stick to keep him away and insists he leave forever. She collapses afterwards trying to get to her friend Chess's home, but Thierry catches her and checks her neck wounds to make certain she'll survive. He tenderly traces her features before leaving her on Chess's doorstep; the semi-conscious Hannah is confused at his gentleness and by the lack of stab marks on his hand, but this allows her to realize that he was not the one who had attacked her earlier, and that he may not have killed her in the last lifetimes. Conclusion Thierry disappears for a while, but returns near the end of the novel; having been informed by Maya's werewolf spy of Hannah's capture, he heads into the Nevada desert and finds her inside an abandoned mineshaft, confronting Maya. He informs Maya that, despite her efforts, he will always love Hannah, even if Maya does complete her plan to destroy Hannah permanently (Maya intended to change Hannah into a vampire and then stake her, as vampires cannot reincarnate). Additionally, even if she killed both of them, this would mean that nobody she "hated" would be a witness to her triumph. Maya collapses in defeat, but recovers quickly, now determined to kill the retreating Thierry. Reacting quickly to save him, Hannah stakes Maya with a wooden shaft. Maya regards Hannah's action with a kind of respectful laughter before she dies. After this, Thierry and Hannah, along with the rest of Circle Daybreak, leave the mine, Thierry comforting Hannah after she killed his creator. The two return to Las Vegas, where Thierry wishes her a happy seventeenth birthday, something she'd never experienced in any of her other lifetimes. Alone with Thierry, he asks her if she would like to fully convert to being a made vampire to remain with him. However, she decides to remain human since, being an Old Soul, she will be reborn again, and Thierry will find her new reincarnation, reuniting them once again. However, this time there will be no danger from Maya, allowing the two to live in peace. Other Stories Thierry is mentioned in other Night World stories. In Spellbinder, Thierry is mentioned as allowing the Inner Circle of witches to hold a Samhain ritual on a piece of land owned by him. He is also briefly mentioned in The Chosen, where Rashel Jordan mentions that the Blood Feast is being specifically held on the spring equinox - the day Maya changed Thierry into a vampire - and is held as being a sacred holiday by vampires as a result. In Witchlight, the shapeshifter Keller mentions Thierry, stating that she only takes direct orders from either him or Hannah, and refers to Hannah using the title of "Lady"; there is a possibility that this means that Hannah has finally married Thierry, but this is not confirmed nor consistently implied. Thierry also appears in two short stories. In Thicker Than Water, Thierry is mentioned as having established a Circle Daybreak sanctuary-town named "Harmony", with a central headquarters tower for the Wild Power and other Daybreaker allies, as well as their families. However, Hannah is not with him, as she had chosen to accompany the Wild Powers on their mission abroad; she is with Iliana Dominick-Harman in Paris when Circle Daybreak loses complete contact with them. It is implied Thierry himself is suffering due to not knowing how his soulmate is faring alone out there. When Harmony is infiltrated by a dragon, Thierry allows Keller, who had been fighting the dragon, to have the honor of killing it. Near the end of the story, he visits Keller and Rashel Jordan in the hospital ward, where it is revealed that he knew the two young women were twin sisters. He kisses Keller in gratitude, and then after informing her that there had been no word on Iliana, he returns Keller's Witch Child pendant to her. In Those Who Favor Fire, Thierry is beseeched by Ash Redfern, who is worried about his soulmate Mary-Lynnette, for his private helicopter, so Ash can collect the girl, whom he knows isn't dead. Despite Ash's pleading, Thierry sorrowfully informs him that he is loaning the helicopter to Sarah Strange to get her family to safety but, sincerely appealing to Sarah's compassion, Ash is able to acquire the helicopter. It is also revealed that Thierry has been keeping Mary-Lynette informed of Ash's progress in putting right his past. Night World: The Ultimate Fan Guide The second made vampire, Thierry is Changed by a jealous Maya, who is determined that Thierry loves her more than her sister. But after Maya transforms Thierry, he feels no compassion toward her. Instead, he is struck with hatred. Theirs become a battle of the ages as Thierry, Lord of the Night World, tries to unite with his soulmate, and Maya uses all of her powers to keep the two apart, millennium after millennium. Physical Appearance Thierry possesses pale blond hair, as well as dark colored eyes (whether black or brown is not disclosed) which are described as looking "old" or "lost and so sad. Like somebody always looking for something he can't find". He is tall, with a "well-made" body. Like all vampires, when utilizing his vampiric abilities, his eyes become more predatory and reflective, while his canine teeth lengthen enough to indent the lower lip. Personality Thierry is described as being somewhat righteous for a Night Person; among Night People, in spite of his eminence, he is referred to as "the Saint", as he reportedly has never killed anyone. Early in his life, as Theorn, he described himself as being "an ordinary fellow, with a good throwing arm, a delicate touch at carving ivory, and having a vague longing to see the world", with a notable pride for his clan, which was the tribe of witches, including the twins Maya and Hellewise (leading to speculation that Thierry might have been a witch himself before being changed into a vampire). In retrospect, Thierry describes himself as "very young and very, very stupid" when it came to Maya's experimentation with immortality, and then being dazzled long enough by her to allow Maya, now a vampire, to bite and convert him. He holds a very strong love and passion for his soulmate, and dislikes seeing her suffer, even at great cost to himself, as shown when, despite knowing Maya has been impersonating him for centuries to kill Hannah and drive her away from him, Thierry decides to leave Hannah permanently to spare her more anguish and to protect her from the one who created him. He also awakens her from her past life regression, as he doesn't want her to relive the pain of her first life and death. In spite of his substantial wealth in the present time, he is very grounded, using his money mainly to help others and as funds to locate Hannah whenever she reincarnates, although he is used to being obeyed in his capacity as a Lord of the Night World. In the beginning of Soulmate, he even promises his driver Nilsson a raise in salary if the younger vampire will drive him to the Harman's store in Las Vegas quickly (in order to acquire protection charms for Hannah). Due to his compassion for them, his operatives follow his bidding without issue and are willing to fight to the death for him. Trivia *The name Thierry is a French form of the name Theodoric, which means "ruler of the people", in keeping with Thierry's position as a Lord of the Night World and a leader of Circle Daybreak. His original name, Theorn, shares a similar root to Thea Harman's first name, and means "god" or "holy". It can also, in antiquated German, mean "people", connecting with his modern name. *It is not specific if Thierry Descoudres was a witch or a human because witches often took human husbands back in the Stone Age and implication that some members of the prehistoric witch tribes were human *As he states that he once belonged to the same tribe as Hellewise and Maya, the tribe of the witches, it is possible that Thierry himself has also been a witch before becoming a vampire, but this is not certain. The ultimate fanguide also speaks of Thierry being "raised a witch" with "witch values", but again doesn't say if he was a witch himself for certain. When telling the story of Hellewise to Roz Ross, Thea Harman mentions that "most of" the tribe could do magic, implying there were ordinary humans living in the tribe too. Therefore, it's possible that Thierry was not a witch, but lived as one of them. *According to the book Soulmate, Thierry's brother is named Conlan Spearthrower . On the family tree posted by L.J. Smith, it is stated that a Conlan Spearthrower became the mate of Hellewise and the father of her daughter, Iluna Hearth-Woman. According to the ultimate fanguide, Thierry's brother and Hellewise's mate are the same person, thus making Thierry a relative of the Harman family. *Technically, as Thierry discovered a human soulmate before the formation of the Night World and the implementation of its laws, he hadn't been doing anything illegal. * It is stated on LJane Smith's Facebook page that Thierry and Hannah have indeed married by the time of the book Strange Fate. * Following Maya's death, Thierry holds the distinction of being the oldest vampire in the world, as well as the oldest made vampire. Appearances Novels *''Secret Vampire'' * Spellbinder ''(mentioned only) *Soulmate'' * Witchlight ''(mentioned only) *Strange Fate'' Short Stories *''Thicker Than Water'' *''Ash and Mary-Lynnette: Those Who Favor Fire'' References See Also Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Deuteragonists Category:Vampires Category:Made Vampires Category:Circle Daybreak